Taekwondo School Denounces Bullying With Anti-Bullying Workshop

Adrienne Jones admits to being a bully when she was a child, and even getting into fights.

Then more than twenty years later, Jones stood and faced numerous adults and children one Saturday to conduct a workshop denouncing bullying.

Jones and Wayne, her husband, own the Soaring Eagles Taekwondo Academy in Vallejo and Pinole, California. They presented a free and communal anti-bullying workshop at their Vallejo school.

"Bullying has become such a problem," said Adrienne Jones, who is now a fourth-degree black belt master. "I've seen firsthand what bullying can do to someone."

Jones said that when she was a teenager one of her friends ended up in prison after murdering an individual who had been bullying him. He then took his own life, she added.

The hour-long workshop teaches parents and children how to recognize bullies and stand up to them. The workshop also teaches to spot signs that their children are victims of bullying, and how to address the problem.  

"The first key is to not be a bully yourself," she said at the end of the workshop. "The second key is that you will not tolerate any bullying."

In this particular workshop, Adrienne Jones stressed that people who sit around and do not stop bullying are just as at much fault as the bully.

"It only takes one person to repel a bully," she said.

Emylie Forky, 14, and her parents Paul and Ladonna were in attendance at the workshop.

Attending the workshop was something of great importance for to the Forky family who had come back to Vallejo because of brutal bullying Emylie had been encountering in her Hawaiian school.

"It got so bad," Ladonna Forky said. "We had eight meetings in a month period with different people in the school, but nothing changed."

Paul Forky, who is enrolled as a student in the academy, and his wife said they see eye to eye with Adrienne Jones' presentation.

"Schools that say they have zero tolerance against anti bullying should enforce it," Ladonna Forky said. "It does no good to have the policy in place with no enforcement."

Paul Forky also said that parents are integral in such circumstances by being as supportive and positive as they can be.

Emylie, who attends North Hills Christian School, said that although the bullying in Hawaii was painful, it did help her to become a stronger person.

"I know how to deal with it now," she said. "I really stand up for myself."